04.25.07
Posted in Anything goes, History, Uncategorized at 4:28 pm by Administrator
Today is my daddy’s 76th birthday! We’re actually gonna celebrate this Saturday, but today he had his usual doc appointment and his infusion of Zometa for his multiple myeloma. What a way to spend your birthday! Oh, well. So I called my parents up and since they said they would just be hanging around today, I asked them if they wanted me to come over and take over a video rental. One evening while out at dinner, we were having a discussion, and the movie, Waking Ned Divine came up. My mom wanted to watch it, so I thought today might be a good day to watch it. So I picked up the movie, and I’m gonna take it over there to watch with them. My mom is so cute. She said, “Oh, when you come can you bring some of your homemade cookies and tea, too?” Ha ha! Of course, so they’re in the oven right now, and as soon as they’re done, I’m outta here. Meanwhile, I’ll blog, hehehe.
There are so many events going on all the time that it’s hard to keep up. Yesterday, I was on the road on Wilshire, and ran into unexpected traffic. Lots of people and police everywhere. Turns out there was a demonstration for the 1915 Armenian Genocide. I had heard about it and saw some stuff on it at the Museum of Tolerance many years ago. But I honestly remembered very little (except a few very graphic pictures 
). So I looked it up. Wow, amazing the things that have happened in history. For those interested, here’s a link.
Oop! The oven just beeped! Must dash. Will have to continue later on.
Marlakins
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04.20.07
Posted in Anything goes, Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, Historical Trivia, Hmmm Moments, Treatment Decisions, Uncategorized at 5:41 pm by Administrator
Anyone who has explored alternative treatments for long will likely have run into the controversy of the value or dangers of vaccines. One of the claims is that the recipient of a vaccine can actually come down with the very disease they are being vaccinated against. As a layperson, I had wondered if that was true. First of all, I had no idea how vaccines were made aside from the basic knowledge that vaccines contain a small amount of the virus for which we want to mount an immune response for protection to prevent a full-blown case of the particular virus. Subsequent reading and searching revealed bits and pieces of how vaccines were/are developed and produced. Basically, there are two types of vaccines–1. the attenuated version (weakened virus), and 2. killed version where the virus used in the vaccination is dead. My first question was, “Why do they use “attenuated” vaccines AND “killed virus” vaccines? What’s the difference aside from one is dead and one is weak? Well, today while reading a book called, The Invisible Enemy, A Natural History of Viruses, I found the answer. “Attenuated” vaccines supposedly offers longer-lasting protection against a full outbreak of the virus than the “killed” version of the vaccine. Hmm. So that seems to imply that we don’t have “life-time” protection if one lasts longer than the other. . . I don’t recall ever being told I need to update my vaccines as an adult unless there were unusual circumstances like a bone marrow transplant. I find that a curiosity, and maybe I’ll find my answer to that one somewhere else since I don’t recall running into the answer in the above mentioned book. However, I did find some other answers to questions I had wondered about regarding viruses and vaccines.
Another question I had wondered about was, “Is it possible to actually come down with the very disease we are being vaccinated against?” Just the mention of that is enough to get some incredulous stares, but some books I’ve read say, “yes,”one can come down with an infection from the virus introduced by vaccination. Since those claims are usually from the “anti-vaccine” party, I had wondered what the “pro-vaccine” party would say. Dorothy H. Crawford, author of “The Invisible Enemy” apparently belongs to the pro-vaccine party. She wrote that those who choose not to vaccinate are like the “parasites” of society. Ack! But even she has admitted in her book that, yes, it is true that a recipient of an attenuated vaccine could actually develop the disease of which one is being vaccinated against. It is on page 210 of her book where I learned of the term, “back mutations.” Crawford explains, for example, how the polio vaccines are attenuated, and each batch is tested in animals to make sure that it has lost its capacity to cause paralytic polio before it is released for human use. She futher states that, “But although it is extremely safe, it does cause paralytic polio in around one in every two million of those vaccinated.” (Not comforting to the parents of the one-in-two-million child who develops paralysis). Continuing on, “Somewhat surprisingly, comparison of genetic material from the paralytic and attenuated vaccine strains of polio virus shows very few differences–in most instances just two mutations. In cases of vaccine-associated paralytic polio, further mutations have returned these single changes back to their original form in the virulent virus“. . . There’s our “back mutuation”. . . So it does exist. . . But get a load of the next couple paragraphs she writes.
“In 1983, Philip Minor from the UK’s National Institute for Biological Standards and Controls, set out to see how common back mutations of the vaccine strain of polio virus actually were. He studied his own baby son, David, who was four months old when he had his first dose of oral polio vaccine. Minor collect all his baby’s faeces and detected polio virus in them for the following 73 days. But it was molecular analysis of these viruses which really surprised him. He detected back mutations which increased the virulence of the virus as early as two days after immunization and more followed. To show that this was not just a fluke result, Minor repeated the same experiment two years later on his daughter, Elizabeth, and came up with the same answer. Up until then polio mutants had only been found in rare cases of vaccine-associated paralytic disease, but thankfully the Minor children remained healthy.
“We now know that back mutations occur in almost all those vaccinated, but why these viruses so rarely cause paralysis is not yet clear. However, with this level of reversion to a potential disease-causing virus and circulation of vaccine virus in the community complete eradication of paralytic polio and the virus will probably not be feasible using live attenuated vaccine. For this we may ned to change back to the earlier killed preparation.”
That pretty much confirms it for me that what people like Neil Z. Miller, author of Vaccines: Are They Really Safe and Effective?, and Tim O’Shea, author of The Sanctity of Human Blood: Vaccination is Not Immunization claim. That there is risk that those being vaccinated can actually become infected from the vaccination itself and that the true decline in the incidence of infection may not be attributed to vaccinations, but rather to the cyclic nature of the host of viruses to gain natural immunity in general. For instance, Miller writes that the incidences of polio was already on the decline when vaccines were introduced. Thus, the seeming erradication of polio was not due to the vaccinations, but rather the natural course of host resistance to the disease. That idea is not completely out in left field as Crawford confirms that viruses have a tendency to do this in her example of the flu virus epidemics. (Interestingly, she defines an epidemic as any unusual increase of an infection in a community, so the recent 10 cases of AA in the first few months of the year in San Diego could fit that description since, with their population, they should have been allotted only about 6 cases for the entire year; while a pandemic is an unusual world-wide increased incidence of an infection). Crawford writes that “although flu outbreaks occur every winter, full-blown epidemics only happen every 8-10 years. . . and flu “pandemics” occur on average every 10-40 years. Apparently, this has to do with the genetic makeup of the virus and the natural resistence the hosts develop. Thus, it seems plausible that Miller is right that the viruses, such as polio, were just naturally loosing steam on their own before the vaccines came to take the credit for its eradication. Miller includes statistics on not only polio, but measles, pertussis, and smallpox.
When I first checked out Crawford’s book, The Invisible Enemy, I was just interested in reading up more on viruses because of the recent discussion on the AA forum of the possible causes of AA, and if some sort of virus was involved with some cases of AA. What I wanted to know was once we are infected with a particular virus, does the virus ever leave the body, or do we harbor it for the rest of our lives? Apparently, depending upon the virus, one can either eradicate it, or we can harbor it for life. A virus such as the flu apparently is eradicated, but our bodies develop antibodies against it so that if we are ever exposed to that same virus again, we could fight if off and not develop infection. Other viruses manage to lie dormant in our cells until an opportune time to resurface. These particular viruses are known as latent viruses and include strains such as the herpes variety. Other viruses never quite completely go dormant and continue to cause low level infection in the host such as some cases of viral hepatitis.
Overall, I enjoyed reading The Invisible Enemy. Crawford writes about other interesting viral epidemics, gives an easily understood description of viruses as opposed to bacteria, actual case stories, etc. I have a couple other virology books on hold, and look forward to learning more about viruses. They certainly are very interesting little, tiny animals, ha! Plus, I still have other questions for which I hope to find more answers.
Marlakins
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04.19.07
Posted in Anything goes, Hmmm Moments, Uncategorized at 4:37 pm by Administrator
My son just pointed out a post on Ken Ham’s blog regarding the recent Virginia Tech shooting. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t be interested in blogging about what all the news medias are currently covering because, gee, everyone is likely just rehashing the same thing. But, what I found particularly interesting was that “Orac,” yes the same “troll” I referred to in one of my older posts I titled, “By George, it’s a Real Troll, was referred to in Scientific American where Orac “misunderstands” Ken’s post. Ken was “not” blaming the shootings on secularists and evolution (as Orac claimed he was), but rather on “sin.” Christians, as well as secularists, can commit sin. Maybe Orac’s definition of a sinner is a secularist and/or evolutionist? And Christians think they don’t sin? Absolutely, not! Sigh. Any Christian who has read the Bible “knows” that we have “all” sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Christians do not claim to be sinless! Maybe Orac forgets that “some” unscientific Christians believe in evolution (although, this Christian absolutely does not). And there are some “non” Christians from other religions who also don’t believe in evolution like some Muslims. I’ve even spoken to agnostics who find faults with evolution. “Sin” is the issue in Ken’s post, which Orac apparently missed, “maybe” because when he saw “evolution” mentioned, he ran away with his preconceived ideas of what he “thought” Ken would say. Never mind what Ken was actually trying to convey. As “scientific” as Scientific American “thinks” they are, they apparently don’t even “check” all their resources they use in their publications. Or perhaps they, too, just didn’t understand what Ken was saying, ha! I’ve cut and pasted part of Ken Ham’s post on his blog where he explains the error:
“Many look on Scientific American as a reputable science (though ardently evolutionary) magazine–but one wonders how trustworthy their research is when on their website one of the editors for Scientific American made the following statement from their blog:
The second is the attempt to blame the killings on science education itself. Check out Orac’s post, which points to a ridiculous blog about the shootings by Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis, a pro-Christian advocacy group. In the post, Ham rails against atheism, evolutionary biology and the science classroom…
“He quoted from a website that stated:
Here’s contemptible ghoul #2, Ken Ham over at Answers in Genesis , who blames the evil of the school shooting on atheism (of course!) and–wink, wink, nudge, nudge–evolution, even though he “isn’t saying that,” if you know what I mean…Despicable. Ken Ham couldn’t even wait until tomorrow to start blaming godless secularists and evolution for this crime, just as he blamed the Columbine shootings on evolution and atheism.”
“But the same website actually quoted my article on the Virginia Tech killings where I really stated:
I’m not at all saying that the person who committed these murders at Virginia Tech was driven by a belief in millions of years or evolution. I don’t know why this person did what he did, except the obvious: that it was a result of sin. However, when we see such death and violence, it is a reminder to us that without God’s Word (and the literal history in Genesis 1–11), people will not understand why such things happen.
“The main thrust of my article was to point out that unless one understood and believed in a literal Genesis, one won’t have an understanding of why such killings occur. I also pointed out that the more generations of people are educated to believe in evolution/millions of years, and that the Bible’s history is not true—the more these generations will have no basis for morality or purpose and meaning life, etc.
“I guess the problem is that people in the secular world don’t understand (or accept) SIN—therefore they don’t understand what we are saying. But it really is quite poor of Scientific American to twist what I said.”
The full post on Ken Ham’s blog can be viewed here.
Just goes to show us that misunderstandings are rife.
Marlakins
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04.17.07
Posted in Anything goes, Uncategorized, knitting and crocheting at 5:56 pm by Administrator
It’s easy to get behind on blogging especially when there just doesn’t seem like enough time in the day to make a proper post. So, I just thought I’d make a quick entry of a little of what’s been going on on this end, so that no one thinks I fell off the edge of the earth. My mom had her cataract surgery on one eye today. She’s home now, and seems to be doing well. Even though I know that these types of surgeries are run-of-the-mill these days, they still make me nervous, and I am relieved that it’s over and done with. Once this eye heals, they’ll schedule surgery for her other eye.
In the meantime, I just finished a baby poncho and hat per my mom’s request. She’s gonna attend a baby party and asked me to knit one up for her. It’s for a little girl, so these are girly colors. It actually reminds me of easter eggs. Each side is slightly different, so I’ll attach a picture of both sides. The poncho could be a tad smaller for a baby, and the hat could be a tad bigger, ha! But I think it’s passable, and it was fun to make, anyway. Here’s one side on the left.
And here’s the other side on the right. As usual, just click onto the image for a larger view. I used BigBaby yarn by Muench Yarns. It’s a varigated chuncky yarn that I intermixed with a solid pastel pink. I also used pink Santa Ana by Needful Yarns for the fluffy edging.
Yesterday I received a ball of Manx Loaghtan wool yarn as a gift. That was such a nice surprise to receive, and now I need to figure out what to make out of it. The ball was accompanied by a bar of wool fat soap also made from the Manx Loghton sheep, and a few other items all packaged up in a shoebox, hee, hee. It’s so nice to get parcels in the mail.
I also got some other productive things done yesterday, so today feels nice and refreshing. I’m hoping spring will bring health and rejuvenation along with it. This year has brought into my life a lot of people in need of prayers. Sometimes I wish there was more that I could do than to just pray. But prayer is powerful. I should not underestimate that. I have to keep remembering that there is good in everything to those who love God.
Toodles for now!
Marla
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04.05.07
Posted in Anything goes, God, Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, Uncategorized at 9:08 am by Administrator
A while back when I was doing a search on detoxing mercury, I came across using steam baths or clay baths at a website of a man who claimed that he cured himself of Alzheimer’s disease. His name is Tom Warren. I found that he had written a book called Beating Alzheimer’s Disease, which I subsequently purchased. It is my feeling that he has a lot of good information in his book, and like so many others who have cured themselves of diseases for which mainstream medicine claims there is “no cure,” has come to the realization that there is antagonism towards alternative treatments by the general mainstream medical community. Originally he thought that his doctors would be interested in what he did to reverse his dementia, but soon found that they were not interested. One example of some of the interesting info he gives is in his second book, Reversing Chronic Disease, Getting Well Again. This is what he wrote: “If dentists informed their patients that 50% of a silver filling is mercury, a highly neurotoxic poison, the ADA arranged to have their dental licenses revoked by State Dental Boards. That is a direct proof of a cover-up that any jury can understand.” (Pg. 21) He also claims that today we are told that new silver fillings don’t contain mercury anymore, but they still do–50%, and that the percentage of silver is actually less than the mercury, so it should really be called mercury amalgams, not silver fillings. But I digress. . . the actual reason I felt compelled to write about Tom Warren is because of part of his dedication in the front of his latest book, Reversing Chronic Disease, copyrighted 2003. Often times we can easily get caught up in what “we” have learned or think we know, yet all healing is only possible because God allows it. With God, all things are possible. Anyway, here is part of Tom Warren’s dedication, a thanks that I haven’t seen much in any conventional medical book I’ve opened:
“To Jesus Christ: After I was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, I cried out ‘Lord save me!’ That was almost twenty years ago, and today I am alive because of Him. The Lord did not save me because I was a good man. I wasn’t. I think He saved me because I asked, ‘Jesus, if I have to die this death, at least through me let the cure for Alzheimer’s disease be found.’ I take no credit for this book. None. . . ”
There’s a humility there that I really admire and want to always remember when I reflect upon my healing and remission of AA. We always should remember that God is a very big part of the equation. Any knowledge we gain to heal ourselves is freely given to us from God without reproach. We didn’t “invent” any thing, just found stuff that God already had available to us from nature–from the foundation of the world. Too often we trust in man and his concoctions before we trust in God. But the Bible tells us, “Cursed is he who trusts in man.” Although man tells us there is “no cure” for Alzheimer’s, Tom Warren is cured today, 20 years or more after his original diagnosis. I would venture to say that he trusted in God first and that may have been what prompted him to search beyond what his docs were telling him. Warren sought natural methods, which God has available to those who ask and seek. But God tells us not to just seek and ask, but to “keep” on asking, and “keep” on seeking. It seems “persistence” is Biblical, too.
Marlakins
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